Christmas ornaments

After picking Anna Kate up from school early, the girls and I crafted the afternoon away - working on a variety of Christmas ornaments.

Lucy made 3 - the reindeer, the snowman and the snowflake. Samantha made the red sled.

 Anna Kate wanted to make an ornament for Will for Christmas. I found this airplane on-line, and she made it! With some help from Dad, we got the wings glued straight. 

 This is how the plane started . . . . 5 pieces painted blue. 

 This was the rough one I tried to put together to give her a visual and see if it would really work. 

 Samantha, hard at work, on the pieces of her sled . . . . 6 assorted popsicle sticks, lots of red paint.

  A blurry (sorry!) picture of Anna Kate's plane

Tomorrow, we'll finish them up -- stripes on the plane, hanging strings on all of them, names and years, the snowflake and the snowman and the reindeer need some final embellishments. Then, maybe I'll update this post with better pictures! :)

Some of Gramma Maggy's pics

Proof that every now and then, Will eats a banana. 

 Samantha, sitting in (on?) my boots, reading. Is this cute or what?

 With Gramma's new diet, we had to be uber-careful, but, as you can see, wine is totally safe! Look at Samantha in my boots! What a pose!

 Lucy, striking a pose of her own

 or two

 Dave calls Will's hair "disney boy band" but I really can't cut those curls!

 And a picture Will is likely to really be upset about one day. He loves his sister's shoes. These pink clogs are among his favorites, probably because they are so easy to put on. Yep, that's Dave peeking around the corner of the doorway in the back left corner. (He was probably shaking his head.)

Anna Kate is eight! (and it rhymes)

Anna Kate is eight! Anna Kate's birthday was Monday. She took cupcakes to school - a big hit.
We celebrated on Sunday with our dear friends Peter, Myra, and Elise, and my mom was in town, too. So it was quite a celebration! We loved having my mom in town.

On Tuesday, the first thing Anna Kate said to me when I woke her up for school was, "Mom, I'm eight." She's pretty excited.

She has done a really superb job transitioning to school mid-year. In her stories, I often hear her strong self - she really is strong on the inside and she has a good idea of what she wants. She is brave. She is such a caring person, too. And, I've said this before, a natural teacher. Her El Paso aunties and cousins gave her a "doll school" set for her birthday and she's in heaven, quite literally. Will loves her. She is an avid reader, which I'm so proud of! She's pretty pleased to now own five of the Little House books. And she eats up the American Girl series.

Who would have ever guessed 8 years ago, after that incredibly long delivery, what a great girl we'd have the joy of raising!

earrings?

Then, on Saturday, Anna Kate got her ears pierced! She has talked about it every year around her birthday for a couple of years now, and this was the year! She was so brave, and she was even so mature, when I had to help her choose the titanium earrings, rather than the super cute (but not as allergen-free) Hello Kitty studs.

Waiting 

 Lollipops after

 So pretty. She cried only a little (and I did too!). 

The studs are a kind of pinkish-purplish.

 Of course, we had some other things to do. And we pushed it too long. Will fell asleep in the stroller - not at all interested in his granola bar. And only a nap long enough to prevent any further napping, making it a very long day!

Christmas programs

This was a big year in the Sheehan household! All the girls wanted to participate in the church's Christmas program, which was a couple of Sundays ago. Anna Kate had rehearsals, and Lucy and Samantha practiced at home and on Sunday mornings. It was great.

And then, on Friday, Anna Kate had her first Christmas program at her school. She did a great job - singing right along and knowing the motions, even though the other students had been practicing since October! It was a musical - "A Star is Born." And my mom was in town, too! We both agreed that it was a nice idea to have a story to tell rather than just a few songs to sing!

 Will and Samantha and Lucy were captivated! It was incredible, especially since the program was an hour long!

 Three of four before we left!

I'm not sure how this video really is, but it's a taste anyways! My mom has video of Anna Kate's favorite - "Gotta Get Down" - and we're trying to retrieve it! 

A lot's been happening around here

I was surprised that Will wanted to jump right in to finger painting along with the girls!

 Lucy and Anna Kate were in church with us a couple weeks ago for a Family Worship Day, and our pastor was teaching about work. He asked, "Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?" To my surprise, Lucy leaned over and shared, "A farmer or an artist."

 An action shot my girls would probably rather I not share, :) but who can resist showing that Will is eating yogurt (even if a substantial amount gets on his clothes!). His diet is increasing and now includes cheese sticks, bananas, and yogurt.

 Will's favorite activity is building with these traditional big wooden blocks. One of our friends lent us a few until we make the investment ourselves. He loves these blocks!

 Babies, babies, babies. . . . . The girls are always (or so it seems) playing with their dolls and some scenario - shopping, church, school, orphanage, meal time . .. .  . Here's Jasmine enjoying her meal.

 Fall here means lots of leaves. We might have a small backyard, but it is surrounded by large trees that seem to prefer our yard when dropping their leaves! After Thanksgiving (we had a great one, by the way!) Dave and the kids worked on raking those leaves, and they managed some playing too!

 I can't resist a sleeping picture every now and then. I don't think I shared that I finally persuaded Dave to move bedrooms around upstairs. For those who have been to our house, this will make sense. We moved Samantha in with Will when we returned from our summer. Will is such a light sleeper, though, that having them in the room at the top of our stairs made for a stressful nap time, as I tried to allow the girls to enjoy themselves and play but wanted a quiet house so he would sleep too! So, we moved the big girls into the room at the top of the stairs and moved Will and Samantha to the back bedroom. It seems to be working really well.

 Will went to his first friend's birthday party this weekend. He had a ball and really loved his balloon!

 But he felt best when his big sister was close by. He held on to her arm the entire time they were at the table! So sweet!

So, here's a video I couldn't resist taking one afternoon when I noticed what Will was doing. The activity continued for minutes more! It's amazing to me how each of our children are uniquely created, and it is so noticeable at an early age.